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* DoD has confirmed that Agent Orange was used from April 1968 up ... Johnston Atoll (1972-197 was used for unused AO storage. ... McLane, Newman, Williamson, Baker, Dean, Johnson ...

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The Johnston Atoll area was used during the 1950s and 1960s as an American nuclear weapons test site - for both above-ground and underground nuclear tests.

It was also used for a rocket launch site for some of the first American spy satellites. Later on, it became the site of a chemical weapons depot and the site of the Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System (JACADS).

All of the chemical weapons that were once stored on Johnston Island have been incinerated, and that process was completed some years ago.

Between 1958 and 1975, several scientific sounding rockets were launched from Johnston Island.[3] There were also several nuclear test missiles that were launched from Johnston Island in 1962 during the "Operation Dominic" series of nuclear tests, from a launchpad at 16°44′13″N 169°31′26″W﻿ / ﻿16.7370°N 169.5240°W﻿ / 16.7370; -169.5240.

Twelve thermonuclear warheads were exploded in all, one of which failed when the PGM-17_Thor carrying it failed to launch and scattered plutonium debris over the island.

Afterwards, the radioactive debris and soils were placed in a 25 acre landfill on the island, along with residue from Agent Orange containers returned from Southeast Asia after the Vietnam War, PCBs, PAHs, dioxins, and sarin nerve gas from the Soviet Union and East Germany.

Growth of Johnson Island by coral dredging.

In 1963, the United States Senate ratified the Limited Test Ban Treaty, which contained a provision known as "Safeguard C". Safeguard C was the basis for maintaining Johnston Atoll as a "ready to test" above ground nuclear testing site should atmospheric nuclear testing ever be deemed to be necessary again.

In 1993, Congress appropriated no funds for the Johnston Atoll "Safeguard C" mission, bringing it to a termination. Congress redefined the island's military mission as that of the storage and destruction of chemical weapons.